About the EWC, registration, the Professional Learning Passport and accreditation.
The Education Workforce Council (EWC) is the independent regulator for the education workforce in Wales. The EWC’s principal aims are to:
- contribute to improving the standards of teaching and the quality of learning in Wales
- maintain and improve standards of professional conduct amongst teachers and persons who support teaching and learning in Wales
Accreditation
Accreditation of ITE programmes is a quality assurance process. Under the Education Workforce Council (Accreditation of Initial Teacher Training) (Additional Functions) Order 2017. The EWC has a statutory responsibility to:
- accredit programmes of Initial Teacher Education (ITE)
- monitor compliance of accredited programmes against Welsh Government criteria
- withdraw accreditation of programmes
All ITE programmes offered by partnerships in Wales are assessed, evaluated, and monitored against the Welsh Government’s criteria for the accreditation of ITE programmes in Wales. This is carried out by the EWC’s ITE Accreditation Board.
Registration
Once registered with the EWC you will be required register and pay an annual registration fee to the EWC. Fees are subsidised by the Welsh Government from time to time. For 2025 to 2026 the Welsh Government will provide a contribution towards registration fees of £700,000.
The following individuals must register with the EWC:
- maintained school teacher
- further education teacher
- independent school teacher
- independent special post-16 institution teacher
- work-based learning practitioner
- youth worker
- senior leader in further education institution
- maintained school learning support worker
- further education support worker
- independent school learning support worker
- independent special post-16 institution learning support worker
- youth support worker
- adult learning practitioner
You may need to register in more than one category, depending on the work you do or intend to do, and some specific criteria. You will only have to pay one fee.
Professional Learning Passport (PLP)
The Professional Learning Passport (PLP) is a fully bilingual and flexible online tool that is available to all EWC registrants.
Your PLP is packed with features that are designed to support you in capturing, reflecting upon, sharing and planning your learning with the ultimate aim of improving your practice.
Your PLP belongs to you: it is confidential and portable. As long as you’re registered with the EWC, you will have access to any content you have created in your PLP.